"Historical Evidence" Article Items

The students of the Apostle Peter confirmed the accuracy of the first New Testament, similar to those of Paul and John. Peter may be the oldest of the original disciples of Christ.  He is also known as Simon Cephas from the Aramaic version of his name.  Peter and his brother Andrew were fishermen and were about their vocation when they first met Jesus.  Peter was a fisherman and likely illiterate with little, if any, formal education and likely illiterate. Mark became very close to Peter, so much so that Peter called him “my son.” (1 Peter 12:12-16).  The early church… Read More »

The Apostle Paul had many students as he spread the Christian message worldwide.  Many of these students are lost to history, but some names are preserved in his writings.  These students and their spiritual descendants become important links in the chain of custody of New Testament writings. In an earlier post, we discussed how the students of the Apostle John carried the Christian message from John to the first written New Testament in 350 AD.  Each student carried the gospel message from their predecessor and then passed it to their students. A similar situation occurred with the Apostle Paul’s students… Read More »

The Apostle John is the only apostle who is thought to have escaped martyrdom and provided a link to the first New Testament.  He was the apostle that “Jesus loved,” who was likely the youngest apostle and lived the longest – probably until about 100 AD.  He was the son of Zebedee and Salome and James’s brother (who was probably killed by beheading by Herod Agrippa 1 early in church history in 44 AD).  Some traditions hold that Salome was the sister of Jesus’ mother, Mary.  That would make Salome Jesus’ aunt, and the sons of Zebedee would be Jesus’ first… Read More »

Paul’s conversion date has been a topic of intense academic study for many decades. As a result, a historical narrative has been painstakingly assembled to include many important historical events relevant to ancient Christianity.  These include Herod’s death date, Christ’s birth date, John the Baptist’s ministry, Christ’s Crucifixion date, and Paul’s conversion date and death date. Remarkably, these dates can be determined with some reliability and interrelate with each other in a smooth historical narrative. Of course, the dates are certainly still a manner of considerable controversy and some speculation, and certainly, there is no consensus of agreement among historians… Read More »